I Got a Visa! (And I Don't Mean a Credit Card)

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens..." -Ephesians 2:19a

Well it's official, I'm allowed to live here in Germany until October 28, 2005! It all began sometime at the beginning of October when the rush of Amy's 3 month grace period ending was felt full force and we found ourselves (with Randy, thankfully) sitting in an overpacked hallway waiting for our previously taken number to come up. I was only picking up the ever-important application form…the first step in this long progression toward my visa. I picked it up and waited for about 30 more minutes until Amy successfully dropped off her completed application—step one done.

Step two meant actually filling out the application which is more tricky than it sounds. The nice german government translated each field into a number of other languages but unfortunately the english one didn’t always clear up the confusion. Direct translation doesn’t always work.

Before it was my turn to drop it off I had to go to another office and get an official residence form…a government approved form saying that I officially live at Goetheallee 19. Don’t want to only be pretending to live there or something! A few days after I got this form done we went to finally drop it off. Thirty minutes after arriving and taking a number I went into the office, showed my passport, Randy answered a few questions (not to mention cleaned a pen spot off the counter while we waited…he SPIT on it…the lady gave him the WEIRDEST look-!) and I got a receipt. I should look for it in the mail within 2-3 weeks.

So then the official form came in the mail saying I could take my passport and some money and receive my beloved visa…so a week later stood Randy and I in the same hallway we had become so accustomed to, waiting for my number to come up. It did, so I went in, sat down, showed all the correct paperwork and my passport, signed something official, and tra-la, it was done!

So the moral of the story is that I indeed did finally get a couple official looking stickers stuck into my passport in case anyone official needs to know. My next challenge will be figuring out what all those German words mean on the "conditions" side of the visa...words like Erwerbstaetigkeit and Arbeitsgenehmigungspflichtige... and yes for those of you who are counting that last one is 29 letters long (longer than the whole alphabet itself). Can’t wait until October 2005 when this whole process starts over…